Granules
by l0ngl0st
Summary: "This world is made of so many shining feelings." / Nagi no Asukara drabble dump, based on prompts received. Open to all characters and pairings.
1. don't stand so close

**Prompt:** Jealousy  
**Pairing:** Chisaki/Tsumugu

* * *

"Your girl's here," observes Professor Mihashi.

His student's head snaps up uncharacteristically quickly, the chart spread on the table before them forgotten for a moment. Professor Mihashi follows Tsumugu's carefully neutral gaze to the purple-haired girl standing in the doorway, talking to one of the other students.

"She still live in your house?"

Tsumugu nods and points to a red dot on the map. "And here? Has it started thawing, too?"

"Slightly," answers the professor, "but nearly as quickly as it did in that town of yours."

He's heard bits and pieces of the event from news trickled into the city from locals, but most of it is a confusing jumble of mythology and traditions and mysticism. No, he'd much rather place his faith in science, instead of these stories about sacrifices and lost love.

From the corner of his eye, Professor Mihashi regards Tsumugu, whose face is a study in blankness, although there might be a slight tightening of his jaw, and his eyes keep flickering to his—_adoptive sister? Friend? Girlfriend?_ She and Atsushi, one of the professor's other students, seem to be getting on well, in the midst of what looks like an engaging discussion; Atsushi's hands are gesturing wildly.

"I wonder what they're talking about?" prods Professor Mihashi.

"Hm," Tsumugu responds noncommittally.

Across the room, Chisaki laughs at something Atsushi has said.

Tsumugu's gaze slides towards them again; this time Chisaki senses it and waves at him, eyes crinkling, before resuming her conversation.

"I'd better see what she needs," decides Tsumugu, setting down his marker. He makes his way towards Chisaki, as seemingly unruffled as ever, but Professor Mihashi doesn't miss the hand that Tsumugu places on the small of Chisaki's back when he greets her.

Neither does Atsushi, whose eyes take on a knowing gleam as he exclaims, "Took you about long enough to come over—thought I was going to have to keep her company for the rest of the afternoon. You get lost in your work too easily."

To which Chisaki giggles and sways a bit closer to Tsumugu, pulling a bundle out of her bag. "I brought you a present," she declares.

At his desk, Professor Mihashi chuckles and shakes his head.

* * *

**A/N: **So I'm slowly completing the prompts I received both here and on tumblr; so far I have seven and I'm looking to expand this drabble collection to 10 pieces, so a few more prompts are welcome! Any character or pairing. :) (up next is Hikari/Manaka)


	2. hold your breath

**Prompt:** breathe  
**Pairing:** Hikari/Manaka

* * *

"Hii-kun, stay still!" huffs Manaka, adjusting his tie. Hikari pulls at his collar, gaze sliding away from her, his mouth puckered in a frown.

From farther off, they hear Sayu's disgruntled "What's _with_ you?" and Kaname's airy laugh.

Hikari's fingers wrap around hers, pulling her hand away. "It's fine, Manaka."

"Oh, all right." She sighs and settles back onto the balls of her feet, scooping up her bag from the ground. Kaname and Sayu catch up from behind, Miuna passing them all, her sneakers slapping against the ground.

"What's the hurry?" complains Hikari.

Miuna laughs. "Come on, slowpokes!"

"Miuna-chan, wait!" Manaka starts to follow, but Hikari and Miuna have already raced far ahead.

From her shoulder, Kaname speaks. "You two are still the same, huh."

Manaka blinks, startled, and looks towards him—Sayu is off to the side, pretending not to be listening. "What do you mean?"

"You and Hikari. I mean, you'd think that with everything that's happened…" Kaname closes his eyes and shakes his head, sighing good-naturedly. "But some things never change, do they?"

Manaka tilts her head, considering. It's true that things haven't progressed much between her and Hikari—through no fault of their own, but simply because their feelings for each other have always been an unspoken truth. Loving Hikari is like breathing, so natural she forgets about it, sometimes.

"What should I do?" she suddenly worries, hands coming up to cover her cheeks.

Kaname chuckles. Up ahead, Hikari has bent over, panting, stopping to look over his shoulder at them.

"Nothing," Kaname smiles knowingly. "You don't have to do anything."

o.O.o

Manaka decides not to take his advice. In the hallways before they part to go to their respective classes, she grabs Hikari's hand, sandwiching it between her palms. Hikari goes red immediately, a confused and panicked expression crossing his face.

"M-Manaka?"

"Have a nice day, Hii-kun!" she wishes, bouncing forward on her toes towards him. She plants a quick kiss on his cheek without thinking much of it, because Akari does it all the time.

Hikari makes a small, flustered sound in the back of his throat. It reminds her, for some reason, of a pufferfish right before it inflates. She giggles.

"What's with you today?" he grumbles, rubbing his cheek.

"You held your breath."

"Did not!"

"Did too!" sings Manaka, and goes on her merry way.

* * *

**A/N:** I just imagine these two being adorable dorks and Manaka initiating everything because she's so affectionate and innocent and Hikari is awkward and doesn't know what to do and pretends not to like it but secretly he's rejoicing XD


	3. the future at our fingertips

**Prompt:** Kiss  
**Pairing:** Chisaki/Tsumugu

* * *

Chisaki has grown up knowing the shine of Ena all her life, the silvery sheen it casts over skin when the light hits it a certain way. It looks different on Tsumugu—his skin darker, not porcelain like hers, and she finds herself studying him as they amble through Shioshishio.

She can sense his heartbeat through his fingertips, entwined with hers, and she wonders if it's faster because of their proximity or because they're in the city he has dreamed of seeing for so long. Knowing Tsumugu, it's probably a combination of both.

They reach her house, finally, and although Chisaki isn't used to seeing Tsumugu nervous—hasn't ever recalled a time, really—she senses a slight uncertainty in his voice when he asks, "What have you told them about me, exactly?"

"Only good things, I promise," Chisaki smiles, squeezing his hand.

Tsumugu presses his lips together and nods. He starts to untangle their fingers, ready to meet her parents properly, and Chisaki feels a burst of pride. There is so much spread out before them, a whole future she'd never considered because she was too embroiled in the past, but now it opens before her, shimmering and wide.

Midway, Tsumugu seems to reconsider and turns back to her, fingers threading through her hair, mouth angling towards hers. She smiles against his lips.

This is a different kind of shining. Tsumugu's touch leaves sparkles in its wake, her skin tingling as the pads of his thumbs trace patterns over her cheeks.

"For luck," he says when they break apart, and though she has never felt short of breath underwater before, thanks to her Ena, she feels a little dizzy now.

A fish darts between them. Tsumugu laughs and Chisaki begins to laugh too, and then her mother is opening the door and wondering, _"Well, aren't you going to come in?"_ and Chisaki watches Tsumugu's skin gleam and thinks, _so this is what happiness feels like._

* * *

**A/N**: Kaname/Sayu up next! :)


	4. piece by piece

**Pairing:** Kaname/Sayu  
**A/N:** For Mossface12 [not _quite_ what you wanted; sorry, blergh, but I hope you still like it. :) ]

* * *

Sayu is used to spitting her words out like broken glass. Not with any intention to hurt people, but simply because her voice so often cracks alongside her emotions, goes wobbly and jagged without meaning to. It is a traitorous voice, but she works on honing it.

Where she is sharp, Kaname is soft. His voice soothes like water, rings with forgiveness. (She thinks she wants to listen to it for the rest of her life, then scolds herself because that's just _silly._)

Still, she wonders if he notices. Late at night, Sayu thinks about what their first fight would be like. Will Kaname go quiet, like the sky right before a storm? Will he just stand there while she batters down his hatches the same way the wind howls through a lonely night?

(Worse: what if he just walks away?)

She isn't selfless-with-love like Miuna or bubbly like Manaka or tender like Chisaki; she's Sayu, with a tongue like a sea-snake when she wants it to be. But…

But around Kaname, she becomes something softer. A little less flame. A little more fluid. A little…_girl._

(Which she'd never say out loud, and she hates to admit even in her head.)

As she peers out over the edge of Tsumugu's boat, a familiar, moonlight-silver head rises to the surface, bursting through the waves. Kaname reaches up and she and Tsumugu haul him onboard, where he brushes a thumb against Sayu's cheek fleetingly.

"You're sunburned," Kaname observes, head tilted to the side.

"And _you're_ late!" Sayu replies, hands on her hips and cheeks flaring.

His laughter is like sunlight, and Sayu knows that broken glass under that kind of shine will always be beautiful.

(Besides, she wasn't going to dull herself because of some _boy._)


	5. like ships in the night

**Prompt:** Sleeping together  
**Pairing: **Chisaki/Tsumugu  
**A/N:** Have some kinda angsty elderly!Tsusaki because I'm a terrible person.

* * *

_Remember when you were my boat and I was your sea?  
Together we'd float so delicately  
~_Fireworks, You Me at Six

* * *

_It's been a good life,_ Tsumugu thinks as he and Chisaki move through the house, their joints creaking like two old ships. They buried Isamu years and years ago. Tsumugu remembers he and Chisaki holding each other, her ear pressed against his chest as she spoke through tears: _"We're still here." _And every night after, lying next to each other in bed because the house was too big and too empty to sleep separately anymore. Every night after, her head on his chest, her finger drawing swirls across his shoulders. _"We're still here."_

They're too old now for their usual position—Chisaki's head a little too heavy, Tsumugu's chest a little too frail—but they still lie side by side at night. Chisaki's breath rattles a little through her nose when she sleeps, but Tsumugu puts up with it. And she always reaches for him under the covers, her knobby, worn fingers wrapping around his. One night, she'd whispered: "Can you promise me something?"

"What?" he'd asked, turning on his side achingly, painfully slow.

"Don't die first." Her voice was plaintive. "I can't bear to be left behind again."

"I won't," he'd promised, squeezing her hand.

As he lies on his back, one hand interlaced with Chisaki's, one hand resting on his chest, he counts the spaces between her breaths. It's a habit he's developed over the years; it soothes him, reminds him of wind filling sails. _In, out. In, out._ Usually he falls asleep a short while after Chisaki drifts off, but tonight—

Tonight, she blinks at him with her watery blue eyes, squinting in the dim light. "Tsumugu?" she murmurs, half-awake.

"Here." He turns his head towards her, smiling.

She curls on her side towards him, her wrinkled cheek pressed against the pillow. White has taken over nearly all of her hair, save for a few purple streaks left, and Tsumugu reaches out to curl one around his finger. Every movement takes ages for the two of them, like pushing through layers of water, and Tsumugu feels his throat grow tight.

He is tired—so, so tired.

Chisaki's eyelids flutter closed again. "Go to sleep," she whispers, squeezing his arm.

"I'm trying," chuckles Tsumugu.

o.O.o

In the morning, his spine decompresses uncomfortably as he sits up, stretching his stiff limbs.

He moves to rouse Chisaki, but stops.

Tsumugu has watched her chest rise and fall, as constant as the waves down by the docks, for years. But on this early morning, she is still. Even before he leans over to listen for her heartbeat, he knows exactly what he will hear.

In the end, Tsumugu muses, he kept his promise—it was Chisaki who left him behind.


	6. where the waves go

**Prompt: **origins  
**A/N:** sibling love and Miuna love and some Hikari&amp;Miuna angst. For TheRoseShadow21. :)

* * *

Akira looks just like her. Miuna marvels at it, because only half of them comes from the same person, but there he is, black hair and sea-green eyes. She falls asleep next to his baby basket a lot, and when he's finally calm enough to lie in her arms without squirming, she falls asleep curled around him in bed.

She wants to tell him about the sea. About where their mom came from—this time, there's no distinction in her head between her real mom and Akari. She just wants Akira to know about their half-home. Can you even have a half a home? Miuna isn't sure. She just knows that a part of her always feels on foreign soil while she walks on land, and she wonders if it'd be any different if she walked the streets of the sea village. Akira's too young to understand, though, so instead of voicing any of those thoughts, Miuna tells him about Hikari.

"You would have liked him," she whispers, poking Akira's stomach. Akira just giggles, grabbing at her finger with his chubby hands. "He was nice and brave and strong and lots of fun."

o.O.o

She has Ena and she _sparkles_ with it, because here is proof that she belongs to the sea, just like Hikari, just like her mom. She wants to soak in it until she becomes pruny, although she knows that will no longer happen. At last, she can be close to everything she loves; at last, she can see her loved ones' home and make it her own.

Only that, in the end, doesn't bring her any closer to Hikari. She watches his face go stormy and heartbroken around Manaka and tries not to cry, swallowing the truth like a bitter pearl: just because she has Ena doesn't mean she belongs in Hikari's arms. Just because they come from the same place doesn't mean they're headed the same direction. Some nights she wants to scream, but instead she stares at the ceiling wondering: _Where do I fit in, then? Where do I go?_

o.O.o

Miuna wonders if Akira can swim in the ocean, too. She wants to show him all of it: how the mystifying, frightening depths can shelter something beautiful, how things are buried but never lost, how love hurts like salt in a wound but at the same time heals, knitting cuts back together.

Some days, she looks at the water and aches. Other days she doesn't. With time, Miuna knows they'll level out as she moves on for good. She still loves Hikari, but in a different way, more like a boat rocking gently and less like waves hurling themselves against the shore. Akira, on the other hand, continues to hide his face when Manaka comes around, but Miuna knows he'll grow out of it. He'll find another pair of pretty eyes to explore.

In the meantime, she takes him down to the pier, holding his hand tightly so he won't slip. They throw pebbles into the water and Akira laughs at their splashes, and Miuna waits and watches for a sign that soon it'll be okay for him to splash in the water, too.

o.O.o

Shioshishio, once bustling, is beautiful. Akira settles in happily—some days, Miuna struggles to drag him back on land for dinner. They straddle the two worlds now, sea and surface, just like Chisaki, Hikari, Kaname and the others. Sayu teases her about having a brain full of seaweed when she zones out in class but accompanies her to the pond when Miuna needs to moisten her skin all the same, and the two of them flick water droplets at each other with their toes. Akari cooks dinner. Miuna tries to coax Akira into eating his vegetables while he scrambles away, using his arms as if they'll propel him faster through the air like they do in the water.

And Miuna starts to understand that home isn't about where she comes from, but the people around her.


	7. baby, it's cold outside

**Prompt: **Cuddling  
**Pairing:** Chisaki/Tsumugu  
**A/N:** Fluff, fluff, and more fluff.

* * *

"You're going to catch a cold." The screen door slides open behind her. Chisaki doesn't turn, instead drawing her knees closer to her chest and looking up at the sky.

"The snow is really beautiful this year," she justifies, watching the flakes dance. Her breath puffs in front of her, winking out in the air.

"Hm," Tsumugu grunts, easing himself down to sit beside her on the steps. "At least you're wearing a scarf. But your skin's going to get dry."

Chisaki tugs her scarf up higher, burying her nose in it, and mumbles, "Yours will, too."

She hears the screen door slide shut behind her and startles, finding the seat beside her unoccupied. She can't guess at the reason for Tsumugu's hasty retreat. Laughing silently, Chisaki shakes her head and hugs herself, rocking back and forth slightly as a brisk winter wind whips by.

Three minutes later, something warm settles over her shoulders. Chisaki looks up, surprised, as Tsumugu drops a blanket on top of her. She accepts it gratefully, forming a cozy cocoon. He hands her a bottle of water wordlessly, then sits down, a comfortable space between them.

Chisaki sips her water, then glances sideways at him. Tsumugu's eyes are focused on the landscape in front of him, the snow piling in gentle drifts in their backyard. Chisaki frowns—there's too much space between them. She wriggles the tiniest bit closer.

No response.

"Aren't you cold, Tsumugu?" she ventures.

Tsumugu's eyes flit to her face before he shrugs. "I'll be fine."

Her motherly side takes over. "You're going to catch a cold," she insists, and catches the faintest smile on his face as she crawls over to him, dragging the blanket along with her. She nudges his side. After a bit more prodding, Tsumugu picks up one end of the sheet and tucks it around his shoulder, draping the whole thing over the two of them.

"Better?"

"Mhmm," she mumbles. The wind has done a fine job of whipping her cheeks into a rosy hue, and she doubts Tsumugu will notice if they get any pinker. Even if he did, it's not like he'd say anything.

His arm somehow finds its way around her waist and he pulls her closer still. Chisaki exhales, a foggy cloud escaping from her mouth, and lets her head sink against his shoulder.

"It really is beautiful," Tsumugu agrees.

"Mhmm," Chisaki nods again, drowsily.

And then she sneezes.


	8. look after you

**Prompt:** Initiative  
**Pairing: **Tsumugu/Chisaki

* * *

Izumi is crying again.

Chisaki rolls over, groaning, wiping the sleep from her eyes blearily. The rain keeps hammering against their roof. She wishes for peace and quiet to no avail. Their daughter continues wailing in the next room.

Tsumugu turns over on his side, his face half-sunken in the pillow, but his eyes flicker open. It takes him a while to adjust, but she watches understanding ripple over his face as he slowly pushes himself up on one elbow, tilting his head.

"It's the rain," Chisaki whispers, fingers fumbling toward the lamp. "I think she's scared."

As if in confirmation, thunder rumbles overhead. Chisaki thinks she could probably sleep through it, if worry and guilt for their baby daughter weren't clawing at her stomach right now. Between her late night nursing shifts and tending to their child, caretaking has drained all the strength from her, filling her to the brim with exhaustion. But she plows on anyways, because she committed to this course long ago, to placing others before herself.

"Chisaki." Tsumugu reaches over, closing his fingers around her wrist.

She looks at him, mouth open in surprise.

"I'll take care of her. Go back to sleep," he says, and before she can protest, he has already thrown off the covers on his side of the bed.

"Are you sure?" she asks in the watery half-light, though she can already feel sleep beginning to reclaim its hold over her.

Tsumugu leans over and kisses her on the forehead. "Rest," he commands, and then pads away.

She hears a door open and close, and the storm crackles once more, but Izumi's cries fade away into a dim gurgle. Chisaki smiles and shuts her eyes, allowing herself to drift off.


	9. a quiet, starry place

**Prompt: **First date (for Fri)  
**Pairing:** Tsumugu/Chisaki  
**A/N:** yeah so this started out as a date but then it just ended with a shooting star idk and I really like the idea that Tsumugu plays with Chisaki's hair a ton BASICALLY I'm not sure if this satisfied your request *hides face*

* * *

The problem with beginnings is that they aren't always clear. When it comes to her relationship with Tsumugu, the same holds true. Chisaki thinks of it like a pond, the surface constantly rippling with minute changes, but she can't pinpoint the pebble that started it all.

She tries. She compiles all their "firsts"—first hug, first time they hold hands, first kiss.

But what counts as their first date? They already go everywhere together: gathering groceries, meeting for lunch, visiting Grandpa. The only thing that has changed recently is the distance between them; nowadays, their shoulders and fingers brush more often. It's a feeling both comfortable and strange. There's a tentativeness to Tsumugu's touch, coupled with surety because now he knows Chisaki won't run away. A shyness because he knows he has the power to make her stay.

When they take the fishing boat out to sea, the night is like any other. Tsumugu works the motor as they putter out into the midst of the inky water. Chisaki sits with her hands folded in her lap, enjoying the breeze. They stop eventually, the sound fading out as the engine cuts and the boat stills, drifting. The moon casts a bright glow.

Chisaki pulls open the picnic basket, laying out their dinner. Tsumugu pops the cork off the bottle of plum wine; he clinks his glass against hers before they tilt their heads back and drink.

"Say, Tsumugu," Chisaki starts, the rosy kick of color jumpstarting her courage, "is this a date?"

He smiles faintly. "If you want it to be."

Chisaki is torn between rolling her eyes and clucking her tongue at him. She does neither. They split the rice balls evenly between them, chewing slowly and watching as the stars emerge one by one.

Eventually, Chisaki straightens and decides to make her way to the front of the boat. Despite having spent five years with a fishing family, the vehicle is still foreign to her. She holds the metal railings for support, shuffling forward in the murky lighting.

"Chisaki—" Tsumugu senses it before she does; the boat is an extension of him, after all. He moves just as Chisaki's foot snags in one of the nets lying about. She feels herself tipping forward before a strong arm yanks her back, but she winds up hitting the deck anyway, except with something to cushion her landing.

"Sorry!" she squeaks immediately, painfully aware of the soft body below her and Tsumugu's slight groan. She crawls off him, turning around to inspect the damage. "Did you hit your head?"

Silence. And then Tsumugu _laughs._

His rich chuckle echoes over the water as he brings a hand to her face, fingers trailing down one tendril of her hair. "You really are something."

Chisaki turns her cheek slightly, looking away. "It's not nice to laugh," she scolds. "I was actually worried about you, you know."

"I know." Tsumugu's eyes, which Chisaki has always considered dark, shine impossibly bright. He curls her hair around his finger before letting it unwind slowly, falling back into place.

"Tsumugu…"

"Chisaki." His other hand tightens, briefly, around her waist. "Look."

A shooting star.


	10. give me a sign

**Prompt: **Marriage proposal/marriage  
**Pairing:** Tsumugu/Chisaki  
**A/N: **And that concludes this collection. Thank you to everyone who has read both this and any of my other Nagi no Asukara works. :) While I don't want to officially declare the end of anything, I do think I'll be taking a break from writing for Nagi no Asukara for a while, but you're still welcome to drop prompts and/or message me!

* * *

"Took you long enough," Egawa says, clapping Tsumugu on the shoulder.

"Not all of us got as early a start as you," quips Shun, adjusting his tie. He raises an eyebrow at Tsumugu, smiling. "You're quiet."

Tsumugu shrugs, fixing his collar.

Footsteps pound in the corridor outside, and the door soon slides open. Miuna pokes her face in, cheeks flushed—from exertion or blush, none of the guys can tell.

"Sorry, do any of you know where I can find some band-aids?"

"Here." Tsumugu rummages around in a drawer, tossing the tin across the room.

Miuna dips her head hurriedly in thanks before shutting the door again. Through the barrier, they hear her scolding: "Goodness, Manaka. You're nineteen years old and the Maid of Honor, but you can't help tripping over your own feet!"

"The girls are going to take a while to get ready, huh?" Shun observes.

"It's all a part of the anticipation," explains Egawa, folding his arms and leaning against the wall. "Are _you_ ready, Tsumugu?"

_Is anyone ever ready?_ Tsumugu wonders, but he smiles all the same.

o.O.o

One hot, sunny day, a girl asks a boy a question.

_"Will you be my sea slug?" _

Tsumugu stares, thinks: _strange. _After all, Chisaki had made it very clear the other day how she distrusts the land people. But after studying her, he comes to understand that it has less to do with being blindly mistaken and more to do with a misplaced need to protect Hikari.

"I mean, we've grown up together…" stutters Chisaki, continuing, but the truth stretches plainly over her face. She can't hide it any more than she can change the shade of her eyes.

_Ah, love,_ Tsumugu thinks. Only love can make someone flounder so much; only love leaves you gasping for air, desperate for anyone to answer your pleas for help. So he listens. He lets her unload.

He holds her heart, even when it isn't his.

o.O.o

"So what, exactly, is the deal with you two?" Egawa asks in the dim lighting of the booth.

It's a rare night in town for Tsumugu; usually he goes straight home, but Shun and Egawa roped him into a "Boy's Night Out" for old times' sake.

He watches the ice cubes clink against each other as he swirls the drink around in his glass. "It's hard to explain," he replies.

"Saw you two at the Ofunehiki. Looked pretty cozy to me." Egawa's tone is light, but his eyes are deeper, probing.

_Yes and no,_ Tsumugu thinks, because he has held Chisaki before. He knows the softness of her skin, the trembling tension of her shoulders. He remembers a dry afternoon, catching her as she fell. He remembers a hospital room, wheels squeaking away, and Chisaki, hot water in his hands—trembling and violent and ready to boil over.

Holding up Chisaki is nothing new. But the difference, after the second Ofunehiki, Tsumugu realizes, is that she was holding him, too.

o.O.o

Perhaps he should have picked a different place. But they're on the bridge they used to walk across together to get to school. The sunlight beats down on the concrete. It was warm that day, too, Tsumugu remembers—the day Chisaki first asked him to carry part of her burden. The day their journey began.

A different weight rests within him now, heavy in his pocket. Tsumugu stops to stare at the water, prismatic with all its colors. He lets the distance between them grow—Chisaki is in a world of her own right now and doesn't notice that Tsumugu has fallen back.

He watches her tuck her hair behind her ear, probably humming to herself. He thinks of all the times she has run away from him: fourteen years old, faced pinched and angry; nineteen, eyes wide and scared. Always slipping into the sea.

This time, wherever she runs, he can follow. But he hopes she'll meet him halfway.

They're on the bridge they used to walk across together to get to school, and Tsumugu feels somewhere between fourteen and twenty-four, hopeful and afraid. His mind is quiet but his heartbeat is loud, and, as he sinks to his knees, he knows that this could either be the beginning or the end of everything.

One hot, sunny day, a boy asks a girl a question.

"Chisaki?"

She starts to turn.

He holds his breath.

o.O.o

A collective hush falls over everyone as the church doors open. Tsumugu stands, still as the once-frozen sea, waiting.

_If you tell a red-bellied sea slug about feelings you can't tell anyone else, it'll tell you what's going to happen in the future._ _If it spits up a black rock, your feelings are wrong._

_If it spits up a pretty rock, those feelings will continue to shine on forever like a jewel._

Here are his feelings, returned years later in the form of the woman—clothed in white and shining like a pearl—floating up the aisle to meet him.

Here are the words that have simmered in the pit of his stomach, rising toward the light.

Here is his future.

He breathes.


End file.
